Radical Muslims threaten women's minister

A banned radical Islamic organisation has sent a threatening letter to Social Democratic (SPÖ) Women's Minister Gabriele Heinisch-Hosek after she called for a ban on burkas, according to the Österreich newspaper.

The newspaper reported today (Weds) that the Hizb ut-Tahrir organisation based in Lebanon had sent it a three-page email after Christmas in which it condemned the minister's remarks last week and threatened her using the sentence from the Koran: "And know that Allah is strong in punishment."

The organisation's Vienna spokesman Shaker Assem also called "on Austrian Muslims to cease supporting the SPÖ".